


Keep Your Hand in Mine

by Peppermint_Shamrock



Series: Hallowshots [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Not Chat Noir, Adrinette, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, F/M, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is Not Ladybug, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 16:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21079784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_Shamrock
Summary: A city falls into ruin as its heroes vanish. In the wake of disaster, two teenagers come together and vow to find the missing heroes to fight back against Papillon.





	Keep Your Hand in Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes, you're just listening to the radio and [a song comes on](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3ZCaNbbsmw) that just inspires a whole damn fic idea that really deserves to be a full-length fic but you don't have time to give it the attention it deserves so you write a oneshot just to get the idea out there.
> 
> I might come back to this idea someday, I'd like to, but for now this is all it'll be.
> 
> This is an AU where Marinette and Adrien were never Ladybug and Chat Noir, and the Ladybug and Chat Noir who _were_ chosen didn't do as good of a job defending the city as our canon protagonist and deuteragonist.

Marinette wrapped her arms tighter around herself. She should’ve taken the blankets from her last hideout, but that was a lot of extra bulk that could slow her down or get her noticed. Lifting her head just enough to see but not to take it any further from her body heat, she scanned her shelter, hoping for something, anything she could use. But she didn’t have much to work with, in this run-down structure that may have been called a building once.

_I’ll find something better tomorrow_, she told herself, though she had no guarantees of that. There _were _places with better accommodations, some even still had electricity – but it was more likely to be found there than in the more desolate places that had been abandoned long before Papillon meant anything other than delicate, pretty insects.

And _no one_ wanted to be found by one of Papillon’s minions.

Marinette bit back a curse. Because no sooner than she had had the thought, she heard noises below. Noises that were certainly not merely the creaking of aging structures battered by wind and weather. That was a person, and they were either akumatized or a survivor.

And Marinette wasn’t taking any chances.

She stood, silently and as quickly as she dared, and slipped over to the side of the single entrance to her more immediate surroundings. She held herself tense, still, her hand curled around the hilt of a knife, and her breathing quiet and even, preparing to hold it in entirely if the intruder passed too close. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice her, and would pass her by…but if not, she was prepared to fight.

She listened, and let fear keep her frozen in place as the sound approached. Those were steps, certainly, so at least this villain likely couldn’t fly. Not that that mattered that much; they could all leap great distances. But they were slightly easier to deal with.

_Creak_.

_Creak._

_Clunk_.

The room trembled with each step, even as Marinette remained still. The footfalls were not heavy, but the wood was weak and vibrated easily under the slightest motion. It was a double-edged sword – easier to hear someone approaching, but easier to be heard, too.

Right now, this was her advantage.

The intruder paused at the threshold, and Marinette barely dared to breathe, praying that they would turn around. Her hopes were in vain, as they pushed under the debris partially blocking the entrance.

Marinette moved immediately, not even giving the intruder a chance to raise their head as she struck, shoving them up against the wall with one hand. The other hand snapped up with the knife, plunging it towards the intruder’s neck, stopping just centimeters from skin.

Because in that moment, Marinette recognized the figure before her.

“Adrien?” she breathed out, hardly daring to believe it.

“Marinette?” he answered, his eyes wide. And even in the dim light, still his normal green. Marinette released a breath and lowered her knife. Not akumatized, then. He wasn’t akumatized.

He flung his arms around her, and Marinette hastily shoved the knife back into its sheath, not wanting to flail and accidentally hurt him. Awkwardly, she returned the embrace.

Not long ago, she would’ve melted incoherently in this situation. But while her feelings hadn’t changed in the wake of the disaster, everything else had, especially her priorities. Winning Adrien over was no longer one of them. In fact, until this moment, she had no idea that he was even still alive and unakumatized.

Right now, there were no crushes, no thoughts of romance. Just two friends, not-yet-adults, who had found each other safe and alive, when they had thought themselves alone. And for a moment, that was all they needed. Just the comfort and reassurance of each other’s company as they held each other tightly as thought to let go would be to see the other vanish before their eyes.

“I didn’t think I’d see anyone again,” Marinette admitted, leaning into the embrace. “I thought everyone else was gone.”

She knew there were other survivors out there, of course, but she hadn’t dared to hope that her friends and family or anyone she knew might be among them. Too many of them had been akumatized, and those that weren’t were most likely caught by those who were.

“Alya’s still out there,” Adrien said, with absolute confidence. Marinette looked up at the mention of her best friend. Adrien offered her a soft smile and pulled away, slinging his backpack off his back onto the floor. He bent down, unzipped it, and pulled out a camping radio.

The two of them sat down on the floor together as Adrien began cranking the radio.

“I can…” Marinette offered, wanting to split the work, but Adrien kept at it, before pressing the power button.

Marinette felt tears spring to her eyes as she heard Alya’s unmistakable voice crackle out of the speakers.

“…we’re still alive, and we’re still fighting. Don’t ever forget that. Even if Ladyblog Radio gets taken off the air, as long as _you’re_ still out there, Papillon hasn’t won. To borrow words from Majestia…”

“She’s running a radio station,” Marinette said in disbelief and awe of her best friend. “To keep up the spirits of the survivors and prevent more people from getting akumatized. That’s wonderful and reckless and brave and _stupid_ and I can’t believe Papillon hasn’t gone after her for it.”

“She’s mentioned in the past that Max and Markov are with her,” Adrien said. “I’m sure they’ve found a way to prevent their broadcast from being traced.”

Marinette nodded, because that made sense. She hoped it would be enough.

“And Nino?” she asked softly. Adrien’s face fell.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“I’m sorry,” Marinette said, putting her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“I didn’t think I’d see anyone again, either,” Adrien admitted. “I’m so glad I found you, Marinette.”

“Me too,” she said. “I’m glad you found me, too.”

He gave her a small smile.

“We can stick together now, right?” he asked. Marinette hesitated. She wanted to, she really did, but…

“It’s harder to hide a group,” she said. “But…if it’s just the two of us, maybe it’ll be fine.” Maybe it was worth the risk just to have a companion to keep hope alive. What Alya was trying to do for the entire city, perhaps they could do for each other. She didn’t want anyone, especially Adrien, to get hurt if they were near and she happened to get akumatized, but she…she didn’t want to be alone, either.

“We can help each other,” he said. “Get into places we wouldn’t be able to, normally. Carry more food between us. And…here.” He pulled out a tightly rolled sleeping bag from his backpack, and held it out to her. “I saw you didn’t seem to have much…”

“I can’t take that from you, Adrien,” Marinette said, as much as she longed for a little bit of warmth.

“No! I mean…we could…share?” he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Marinette felt her face heat up in spite of herself. “I mean, if you’re not comfortable with that, I understand, I’m not trying to be weird.”

“N…no, I know,” Marinette said. “It’s fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes,” she said, more firmly. “We’ll conserve more heat that way.”

“We should,” he hesitated, “we should get some rest. We’ll probably need to move soon.”

Marinette nodded. It wasn’t safe to stay in one place for very long.

“We’ll need to find more food soon, too,” she said as they awkwardly shuffled themselves into the sleeping bag. “And it’s only going to get harder to find as more stuff spoils.” Even with the reduced population (supervillains didn’t need to eat, or at least it seemed they didn’t. Not that that would stop them from hoarding and destroying food), eventually they would run out.

“You used to garden, didn’t you?” Adrien asked. “We’ll figure something out.”

Marinette wasn’t reassured. They couldn’t stay anywhere long enough to grow anything, if they even could manage to grow something with the unpredictable weather several of the Akumas were capable of manipulating.

But she said nothing, not wanting to worry Adrien any more. But she couldn’t sleep, and the moments stretched on in silence as she stared up at the ceiling. Until, finally, Marinette broke it with a soft whisper, voicing the one thing that had bothered her more than anything else.

“Why doesn’t anyone come to help us, Adrien?”

Though she didn’t look at him, the way his breath caught for a moment was enough to tell her that he hadn’t been sleeping, either.

“Where is the rest of the world? There are superheroes in other countries, and even normal relief groups. Where are they? Why aren’t they doing anything?”

_Why are we alone?_

“Alya thinks one of the Akumas has created a magical barrier around the city,” Adrien offered quietly. He didn’t even shift position, but he was pressed against her, and that was some comfort. “No one can get out, and no one can get in. I want to believe it.”

_Because the alternatives are too terrible to consider._

Marinette wanted to believe it, too. But she was familiar with Alya, and knew that her theories could be based on wishful thinking as easily as fact, and that Alya believed in superheroes with a nearly fanatical devotion. In fact…

“She still calls it the Ladyblog.”

“She believes that Ladybug and Chat Noir had to go detransform, and ending up getting incapacitated as civilians,” Adrien said neutrally.

Marinette gave a non-committal hum.

“You don’t agree,” he said, and the soft words weren’t a question. Marinette answered anyway.

“I think they ran away,” she said bluntly.

There was another long moment of silence.

“As much as I don’t want to believe it,” Adrien said finally, his voice sad. “It seems likely, doesn’t it?”

“You could see it on their faces,” Marinette said. “In that last video of them, I mean. They’d given up. Anyone who believes otherwise is lying to themselves.” She sighed. “Not that I can blame them too much. Everyone needs something to believe in, especially in a situation like this.”

“What do you believe in, Marinette?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t know how to answer, really. _Survival_, she supposed, was what she believed in now. Beyond that…well, Marinette didn’t like lying, even to herself.

Adrien shifted his position, and out of the corner of her eye, Marinette could see him roll to face her. Marinette continued staring at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over to face him, too.

“I think they’re still out there,” Adrien said, “I think they’re hiding too, but if someone could just convince them to fight again; show them how much the city needs them…”

Marinette’s small smile was fond and bitter all at once. It was just like Adrien to believe the best of people, even after everything that had happened. Such naivety. Such precious, stubborn naivety, to flourish even when the world should have killed it dead. He was much like Alya in that regard. She almost hated to argue with it, so when she spoke, she spoke gently.

“There’s no way they don’t know what’s going on, Adrien. They _must_ know how bad things are without them. They chose this, and who could convince them otherwise now?”

“I think _we _could,” Adrien said, his voice low but firm, and in his eyes Marinette could see that he truly believed that. _Everyone needs something to believe in_. “We just need to find them, and we can show how much they mean to the people; how much everyone needs them.”

“Find them?” Marinette echoed, barely suppressing a scoff. “That’s what Papillon has been trying to do this entire time, and how much luck has _he_ had with that?”

“He’s not us. He’s not _you_. If anyone could do it…well, I’ve…always thought that you could do anything, Marinette.”

Marinette abruptly rolled to her other side, away from Adrien, fighting the flush that came to her cheeks. There was no place for such distractions now, but to hear such compliments with the unabashed sincerity that had always drawn her to Adrien in the first place…it was a bit much for her in the moment.

There was no place for romance in her world now. But there was room for love, and Marinette did love Adrien. So if he wanted to go find the missing former heroes of Paris, then she would be right there beside him, protecting him however she could.

“Alright,” Marinette said, her quiet voice carrying the weight of the decision. “We’ll find them. We’ll find Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [Dreamwidth](https://peppermint-shamrock.dreamwidth.org/) for daily WIP excerpts and sneak peaks, or follow my [Miraculous Tumblr blog](https://ladyofcreation.tumblr.com/)!


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